Bowling-alley.



No. 655,034. Patented luly 3,v|900. E. VERSTRAETE.

BOWLING ALLEY.

(Application filed Apr. 2, 1900.)

( N 0 M 0 d e l.)

a4 a@ L//K/ elw WEFEEEEE v zio UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EDMOND vERsrRAETn or crushed, immers'.

BOWLING-ALLEY.

sPEcIFIcATIoN fofning Sart of Letters Patent No. e 5'5,`oe4, dated July 31, 1900'. Application sied April 2,1900. sel-iai No. unas. (no model.)

To all whom it'my concern: c

, Be it known that I, EDMoND VERSTRAETE,

a citizen of the United States, residing at Ohicago, in the .county ofCook and State of Illi- Anois, hayelinvei'ited.certain new and'useful to be more fully described, and pointed out' in the claims hereto annexed. Y

- Referring to the accompanying drawings', wherein like reference-letters indicate the same or corresponding parts, Figure l is a plan view of a section of a bowling-alley and bowling-ball runway, which latter is equipped with my novel device. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of a portion of the parts shown in Fig. 1, the part b of said last-mentioned figure being omitted. Fig. 3 is an enlarged plan view of a portion of the parts shown in Figs. l and 2. Fig. iis a vertical section taken on the line 1l 4. of Fig. 3 and Viewed in the direction indicated by the arrows at the top and bottom of said figure. Fig. 5 is a sectional View of my novel device, showing one manner in which the'separator may be retained in suchnormal posi- I am not aware that any device has been de v vised, patented, or put into practice for automatically or otherwise keeping .bowlingballs separated from one another at the players end of the bowling-ball runway, whether said balls be of the same or of different sizes;

but I am informed and believe that various devices diering essentially from mine have been employed for the purpose of diminishing the velocity ofthe bowling-balls at the end of the runway.

Allthe devices of the existence of which I .am informed heretofore employed for the purpose of diminishing the velocity of bowlingballs before said balls arrive at or approximate ,-to the terminus of the runway are defective for the following reasonsr'lhey are extremely noisy. in their action, and consequently .irritate the player and distract his attention from the game, and, again, such devices by coming in contact with the ball but momentarily retard its progress, which ball when relieved from said retarding action regains to a more 'orless extent its momentum, dependent upon .the distance it has to travel, and thus if another ball lies between the retarding devices referred to and the end of the runway a re- 'leased ball comes 'into more. or less violent contact therewith, thereby' creating an additional noise, occasioned by. impact of the two balls, which also tends towear the surface of both, and, further, none of the knowndevices referred to keep the balls separated `one from another when said balls are. at rest at the terminus of the runway, which, being a fact, renders it extremely liable for the 4player when withdrawing a ball from the balls at rest at the end of the runway to have his fingers crushed should anotherball come in contact with the foremost of said balls.

The objections to the original forms of bowling-ball runways, in connection with which no devices are employed, 'either to retard the speed of the balls cast into the runway by the attendants delivering `thesame orto separate said balls Ifrom one another at the players end of therunway, aregthenoise created `by balls coming in Acontact with one another and the terminal post at the end of the runway and the wear and tear of the balls occasioned by their coming into such contact, while the chief objection is the liability of the ,playerA meeting with an accidental injury to his hands whileendeavoring to extract a desired ball from a number of balls at rest on `said,runway. Numerous other objections may be made to all of the known forms of `bowling-ball runways and ball-retarding at- IOO of bowling-alley balls on the runway, which means when 'said balls are at rest thereon otherwiseimprove upon the bowling-ball rirway devices now known tov the art. K

Referring to the drawings, A shows bowlingballs, and B' a bowling-ball runway composed of the parts b b. C, C', C2, O3, G4, C5, C6, O7, and C8 are my novel ball-separators, hereinafter to be more fully described; D, a terminal post; d, a cushion or pad; E, a spring, and e a nut upon or squared member attached to or forming a part of the hub of the separator. (Shown in dotted lines in Fig. 5.) In

the form of separator, as the separator C,

' shown in the drawings, c shows armsor spokes attached to or forming a part of the hub c3. c isan axle or suitable pivot; c2, rubber or other suitable fenders or buffers, and e (shown in dotted lines inFig. 5) a squared nut or member attached to or a part of the hub c3 and against which the spring E rests.

Reference being had to the parts mentioned, and particularly to Figs. 2 and 5 of the drawings, the operation of this form of my device is as follows: When a ball A is precipitated 4down the runway, upon approaching the players end thereof it comes in contact with the outermost separator C, striking whichever arm or spoke c thereof that projects upwardly vin its path, thereby forcing its extremity forel ward and downward, thus causing the separator to turn upon its axis c', whichmovement ,elevates another arm into such position as to be similarly acted Vupon by the ball next following, unless said action is prevented in the Vmanner hereinafter pointed out. Having pressed the upwardly-projecting arm of thev first separator downward and out of its path,

the ball next comes in contact with the ele-v vated arm ofthe second separator-as, for

instance, the separator O-which is similarly arator will of course be permitted a greater length of movement where the ball against `which it finally rests is of less diameter than were said ball of a diameter equal or more;

nearly equal tothe distance separating two adjacent'upwardly-projecting arms, so, 'asi shown in Fig. 2, the upwardly-projecting.

arms, when iinally stopped by contact with the balls, assume angles of degrees varying.V according tothe diameters of the balls em-1 ployed.

fer toemploy a flat for.y leaf spring in combinatiou'with a nut or a squared member attachved to or forming a part-of the separatorhub, (where the hub is provided with four arms,)'which springwill be' forced out of its?v normal position .when the separator andv theA squared. part referred Y tov Vare revolved by means of aballor other moving agent, but

which will thereafter by bearing against one of the faces of the squared member cause the separator to assume its normal position. A ,Referring to Fig..2,it will be seen that I have illustrated a second series of balls A, which are controlled by a separate series of separators, only the ends of the axle c' of which are shown.

Though the springE or any similarly-actin g spring or equivalent thereofis not a-n essential Afeature of `my invention, it nevertheless the number of separators and the strength of thesprings' employed. If desired, the spring of the first separator or thesprings of several of the outer separators combined may oder a resistance to the speed of the'ball sufficient to bring the ball to a stop beforeit reaches the end of the runway. Ifsuch be the case, before that ball'can proceed on A'its way, if not manually forced ahead, it must be given a fresh impetus by another ball.`

l Itis obvious that the sepa'ratoro'f my invention may vhave any suitable number of IOO armsand that the hub may be provided with ya corresponding number of flat faces where haspringis employed to retain` an arm of the separator in 'normal perpendicularity; that vinstead of fiat faces upon or ,'attachedto the hub suitable indentatio'ns may be provided, Within which the spring or araised par;tthererof will fit orthat the indentations may'be in the spring and thehub or part attachedthereto be provided with suitable pro'tuberances to engage said indentations; that a spring of any suitable form mayormay not be"'em ployed to perform the functions of thesp'ring E, and when employed it'ma'y be secured in any ksuitable manner and at anyY desired point; that the separator may bepr'vided Vwith ball, roller, oranysuitable bearihgsand turn independently of theaxle or 'that the -axle when the separator is rigidly secured to it maybe provided with any suitable-b'ear fings; that the buffers or pads cmaybe of 4any suitable size, form, and material; that In order -to assure a normal perpendicular-` f ity of the upwardly-projecting Varm (which-l ever arm itmay be) of thev separator, I pre-` the runway may be of any suitable form and -construction and have any desired pitch;

that while I have shown the separators as situated in the center of the run'waythey may be situated at any desired point-as, for instance, they may be located above the run- "way andlcome in contact withtheupper'part' of the balls insteadof the lower, as shown in the drawings, or Aotherwise suitably disposed;

IIO

that any suitable number of separators may be employed and that said separators where a number of them are used need not have the same number of arms and that their positions in relation to the balls may vary; that where a number-.of separators are used some of them may be provided with a suitable spring, as the spring E, and the others not, and that the strength of the springs when the same are employed may vary. l

Having described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

11' In a bowling-alley, a bowling-ball runway in combination with ball-actuated means for preventing the balls from coming in contact with each other at the players end of said runway, substantially as described.

2. In a bowling-alley, the combination of a bowling-ball runway, ball-actuated means for preventing the balls from coming in contact With each other at the players end of .said runway, and means for retarding the rotation of the ball-separating means, thereby diminishing the speed of the balls, substantially as described.

3. In a bowling-alley, a bowling-ball runway,in combination with ball-actuated means provided with twoor more arms for preventing the balls from coming in contact with named being so'combined that one of the arms referred to will prevent a ball comingv from behind it fromcoming in contact with a ball in front of it, substantially as and forthe purpose described.

6. In a bowling-alley, the combination of a ballactuated revoluble member, provided with two or more arms, and a bowling-ball runway, the parts named being so combined that one of the arms of said revoluble member will lie in the path of a ball moving'along said runway, substantially as, and, for the purpose, described.

EDMOND VERSTRAETE.

Witnesses:

H. Y. MicHAELsoN, CHARLES S. HILL. 

